Wednesday, November 30, 2005

I have writen about the women of Manipur, how the women are comparatively empowered, here. No, the society is not matriarchal (though some ignorant people have often asked me).I believe in empowering of women for the overall development of a society, and the reason I still haven't given up hope on our state is because of the status that Manipuri women enjoys. Exceptions, however occur.

So, It was pretty depressing when I came this post by Uma, here. Quite a lot of links, all leading to some sad but true facts. But then again, I came across an article today in Time(latest edition), an interview with Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the first women elected to head an African Country. An excerp:

You are the first woman elected to head an African Country. What does that mean to you?

It means that I have a great responsibility to meet the expectations of Liberian and [other] African women. I'm humbled by the challenge. I will be under the microscope all the time--whatever I do and say, how well I am able to move the Liberian development agenda, how I am able to promote peace and reconciliation. I'll have a lot of detractors who want to see me fail, not only because of my long years of political activism in Liberia but because they aren't really convinced that women can be leaders. More...

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

What is the one thing that belongs exclusively to you but that you use very rarely is used mostly by others. Yes! It’s your name. Your identity, the one thing that identifies you.

My name is Anthony. I prefer to be called just that or sometimes Tony in short. Tony is to Anthony as Bill is to William.

I am often asked, if I am a catholic. Some presume I am. Even though I am not very religiously inclined to any sects, not that I am atheist though, I am not a Christian. Nor has my name Anthony got to do anything with any religion pertaining to any God. Well, if Amitabh Bachchan is not God ie. I heard that some people worship the Big B. So maybe, there is a religion there afterall.

I got named Anthony, after the Big B. I am living tribute to the Big B.

I am writing this post after I saw a limp Amitabh curled up into a semi-foetal position in his car( today's TOI). The photographer could have avoided that. It was so unlike the big B, but apparently the Big B was admitted to the Escorts in Delhi and later to Lilavati in Mumbai. For some abdominal problems, probably gastritis,’Just stomach problem caused by food poisoning’ says Dr Trehan of Escorts. Hope it is just that. Get well soon Amitabh.

Amitabh had much more impact roles with names such as Vijay or Jay than the role he played as Anthony, but somehow the name stuck and Anthony sounds more Amitabh than Jai, so as the story goes,’ when I was born It was destined that I would be named after Amitabh’ After all my father was such a fan of Amitabh’s. Or so, my Aunts thought.

Yes that is how I got my name. I grew up among Aunts and Uncles who couldn’t dare to tease my father who was elder and was known to have a temper. So they just started calling me Anthony and the name stuck, so when I got admitted into nursery school, it was the name that was chosen. And I don’t know if I would want any other name than Anthony.

But He did had the same hair cut and the swagger that Amitabh is famous for. But nobody could say it to his face, though I am sure he wouldn’t have mind. Why else did he collect those “Yeh hain Amitabh” audio tapes and who bought that LP of “Muqqadar ka sikandar”, "Sholay", "Zanjeer", "Zameer", "Silsila", and of course "Amar Akbar Anthony", with dialogues and everything.

Surprisingly My father never looked like Big B to me though. Maybe he has changed his style and gait by the time I was born and grew up. But I never saw him looking like Amitabh Bachchan. Oh! he is hansome, but not like Amitabh though. The reason why people think he looks like Amitabh was perhaps because of his height. In a place where the average height used to be 5.5 or 5.6( its increased though) my father’s 6 foot tall lean frame must make him look like Big B. And stories are that he was such a heart throb, something (sob sob) I didn’t inherit. Nevertheless, I was named Anthony as a tribute the One man who everyone at my home is crazy about. Oh! it also helped that My mom is just as tall as Jaya Badhuri, and that her name is Madhuri which is often confused with Badhuri, lol. People keep asking me if my Mom’s name is Madhuri or Badhuri.

I am also a great fan myself of Amitabh Bachchan, his swagger( a swagger that could whip Clint Eastwood's ass anyday), his Baritone voice and I am going to dedicate a blog to his name soon. The Man more than the Actor. People remember Actors for the part that they played, we remember Amitabh not for the roles he played but for the man himself, The Big B.( Shah Rukh Khan is trying that hard, The King). But as JaiArjun of jabberwocky, pointed out in a comment, 'his being everywhere-like God-is-omnipresent’ selling everything from Pen to Paint is a little too much to take for fans like me but then he must know what he is doing. “It is better to burn out than to fade away”, but his second comeback after almost fading out makes him even a bigger hero.

Get well soon.

## Do read the links to swagger and omnipresent.. very good reads..I first picked up the thread at balancing life here, then followed it here, and here

Sunday, November 27, 2005

I have known Deepak Jeswal for a long time now. Well, I have known his blog at Randomexpressions for a long time now. I am sure there must be more-than-1-year-old comments on his blog that I left. He is pretty famous among the rediffbloggers as DJ . His is one the 100+ comments blogs. And there many more of the 100+ comments rediffbloggers. But somehow Rediffbloggers don't show up on the desi blogging scene. Maybe because, its pretty difficult to set-up rediffblogs on technorati. I have been trying to claim my rediffblog via technorati and technorati cannot seem to trace it. Hmm... Is Rediff listening?? And try a search for whois-linking-to technorati search for any rediff bloggers and only links from Blogger users will be displayed. Technorati cannot trace links from rediffbloggers. I don't know if it is Technorati's shorthcoming or Rediff's.

But still Rediff bloggers rarely tend to migrate to Blogspot. Maybe because, Rediff also has its own set of goodies like the occasional sizzling blogs, where rediff picks a few blogs and display them on the main page often for more than months. Two of my blogs were there for about a month beginning of 2004, which was the reason I stuck there for so long, lol. And the post editor is also pretty user friendly. I myself couldn't shift for a long time. The reason I choose my blog's adress as anthonysmirror was because I started this as a mirror to my rediffblogs which was anthony.rediffblogs. I had opened this blogger account to write comments on blogger blogs which only allowed blogger users, and I thought I'd just copy my post from rediffblogs, so the name Anthonysmirror, funny though that the name stuck and I shifted to blogger.

Funnier though is the fact that a true desi blog( Isn't Rediff desier than Blogger or MT or WP) is not very popular among desi blogs. The few Rediffbloggers that I have often come across in Blogger Blogroll are AbsoluteLee and Jammy's Ouchmytoe. I believe Jammy's blog would have been more popular, had he shifted to Blogger. Other than those, I have come across very few rediffbloggers in the desi blogosphere. The reason, as I stated already, is the poor technological update of the rediff owners. No rediff blogs comes up on the result of any blog search engine. And technorati bots cannot trace them either.

With 50000 + hits already, Deepak Jeswal's Blog is a very popular Desi Blog, in the rediff blog world. Oh I haven't mentioned why I am writing about DJ today. Well, he had just written an excellent story piece, posted in episodes and Its been a week since he posted the story, and he has already posted 7 episodes. I know most of my visitors also know DJ, but for those who don't just go and read the story on DJ's Blog. Its amazing. And it can't get any desier, with a backdrop of India's freedom struggle.

1931 was a sad year in Indian history, and a dejected one. The deaths of Bhagat Singh and his friend shook the country, as also eroded its self-confidence. Rifts were increasing – between Indians and British; between Indians themselves s the rulers stoked the communal fire with a devilish glee. More

And if you are a video gaming enthusiast and you play those MMORPG, thenyou could start dreaming of your millions, read more..... Enough for a sunday

Update: MayI also mention another very desi-blogger, The Comic Projectfor all Phantom lovers, not to mention Diana... Nothing can go desier than Indrajal Comics, as the blog says

DEDICATED TO A generation of children growing up on Harry Potter,Cartoon Network and television in general AND Lee Falk...more

Friday, November 25, 2005

This friday came a bit too soon, not that I am complaining.Been reading a lot about Overworked overstressed Indian Employees..Like

A majority of IT people suffer from health problems.As most of the ITworkforce is still very young, the problem isn't very obvious today but itwill hit with unbearable ferocity when these youngsters get to their 40s. Read More

It was originally linked by Gaurav, I even wrote a post afterwards, but it didn't see the light of the blog. So I am glad that friday came, before I am stressed out.

I wrote a post on racism too, a very long post, but I thought I'd refine it further. Racism, which is prevalent everywhere, I thought needed a freudian opinion. I am yet to read up on what Freud had to say about racism. Will post afterwards, but again I don't know if really matters. The blog reading public, I am sure aren't racist. I am not saying that Blog readers are real Nice poeple, not that they aren't nice nor am I saying racists aren't nice. But I have observed that few educated people discriminate people based on caste, creed or colour. There are some who do, but they don't blog. Ok I was kidding.

As a prelude to my upcoming posts, I will share my experience of discrimination and racism. But, rather I have enjoyed it. My company does a lot of business with South East Asians, and so there are some clients from Japan or Korea or Singapore at any time in the office campus. And as all IT workers are instructed by their companies as how to handle clients, as arz000n explains here, Clients are treated as God even if they look funny. And so my first few days of office, it was quite hard for me to adjust to the new found respect and awe.

For example, I never had to stand in queues in the canteen, or when we enter the office early in the morning when everybody is in a hurry to swipe their cards. I only have to give a sideway glance and people offered me the newspaper they were reading to me. One over enthusiastic guy who had just returned from an onsite assignment in Japan even bowed to me not unlike Arshad Warsi in Salaam Namaste. Ah!!! Those were the days, my few moments under the sun, but thanx to my Shuudh Hindi Gaalis, the cat is out of the bag and I am no more treated like a revered Foreigner Client, but just another Indian, yes they do....

There is blog here, remembering Manjunath, a blog created for remembering Machan and to try that his death was not in vain. The blog is also keeping up-to-date about the various media coverages. And the prime minister petitioned to take the matter in hand.

This matter sure needs the Prime Ministerial and Presidential intervention. In developed countries, wherever a servant of the govt., or a federal employee is murdered, the whole government machinery wakes up to a vendetta. Nobody dares Kill a State servant get away. Killing of the employee of a PSU, on lines of duty of the government, is a direct slap to the face of the government. The government must wake up to it. This cannot be taken as a case in isolation, rather very stringent measures should be targeted againts adulterators.

Adulterated fuel, besides being fatal to Honest Sales Managers, is also very fatal to other Indian citizens as well. Adulterated fuel besides reducing efficiency, is the major cause of environmental pollution which will kill many more people in years to come. And of course, they are cheating the goverment outright by mixing taxed Petrol with untaxed Kerosene meant for the BPL.

If we wish that the death of Manjunath was not in vain, the government must take this issue with utmost sincerity. If a few hundred deaths by terrrorist act is a matter of national security, so is the death of an officer doing his duty, and so are the thousands who might fall prey to pollution.

Thursday, November 24, 2005

Gaurav's Follow up post after IOCL employees' threat to the Indian Govt.They want the govt to scrap "the 2005 guidelines which place the entire responsibility of controlling adulteration on sales officers of oil companies" Immediately. Suddenly they felt it was too dangerous a task! On hindsight they also want the Killers arrested. Instead of seeking for a change in the system, This is what was to be expected of them. Nothing wrong, we all do it. It is because the real issue will not be answered, and what is the point fighting a losing battle. For what they should have been asking, read Gaurav's post for more.

For now, I would like to continue on my last post, about taking accountability.. Like most of us, I am also confused and frustrated with the system. And a system overhaul?? its a long way away.Can we actually change the system by being in the system. It may not be impossible but it don't seem possible either. You either get killed or you yourself might get changed.

But, I have a simple theory. I call it spillover effect, I don't remember if I read it somewhere or It was my thought. This is after I analyzed the economies of places like the North East or Bihar. Since the system is irreparably bad, and the only way to overhaul maybe like "Nirav commented" the Nayak(Anil kapoor starrer) way, is far from possible, I feel all we can do is wait and watch and just let the growing islands of Excellence like Bangalore, Pune, Mumbai, Delhi grow and grow so fast their development gets spilled over to other underdeveloped areas. Exactly what I felt when SM Krisna and Chandrababu Naidu lost. The rural areas would have been developed, as long as there was and engine to fuel them.

If India develops into an economic super power, how long can Bihar remain impoverished. India just won't allow. Not the best solution, but we have nothing else that seems working. By trying to choke the growth of excelling islands of excellence, and diverting the fund to other less develop areas just because there are votes, we are doing exactly the way a sick company is run.A company, by cutting jobs increases profitability which can be plowed back into the company to expand it further and then reabsorb the employees. But if the company retains the extra fat, they only eat up the profit that could have been used to expand the company and grow. So the company get sicker and sicker until it is too late and collapses..

In principal yes.Corruption will always exists as long as there are people who are willing to pay a bribe.It is very difficult to change a mindset huh!Had Gandhijee been alive, he would have called for a hunger strike, but who would listen If I went on a hunger strike. Even OSOA knows it, and they didn't even gave a try. And please, there are hundreds of employees of PSUs who are honest. in fact there are very few corrupt PSU officers believe me, and today PSUs work even harder or as hard as most private sector employees. It is just a select few who are corrupt, with many who are willing to pay.But is corruption in the oil sector bad?

My weird reasoning suddenly says No. It is in fact good, maybe it is my crazy habit of seeing a good side to everything. I suddenly think IOC and other PSUs should be so corrupt, they all become sick and start making losses. At least, the left won't object to their divestment. The Left have objecting divestments of profit making Ratnas. Let the company so rot, that even the govt. want to part with them and let the private run them. This is a plausible solution.

And why should talented people go and work in such corrupt organizations, yes, there are lots of talented people working for the PSUs, instead of trying to change the system they should just let themselves be selected by the market and work where the system is transparent. Market will automatically drive corruption into extinction. Weird reasoning but, do we have a better choice? I have seen many people who try to change the system, by being in the system. It just doesn't work. They either become so frustrated or get snubbed.Just let the PSUs rot and when they are sick, the private players will take them over and by way of the spill over effect from the private players, they will excel again. Corruption will just fade away. Is there any other way.

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

I can condone some kind of killings. But there are some, which warrant instant death penalty, and even add a Chinese torture as a deterrent to future killers.I can never condone killing for profit. Like they say in the mafia movies, “it was nothing personal, just business”. I can understand personal, It could have been a Revenge (I can forgive a brother for avenging his sister’s rape or murder)but “Just Business?”. So are Mercenaries, our former don in the jail being one. I could even understand when suicide bomber bombs innocents, for he had also died for a cause. No, no cause is worth a human live as I have written here, but I understood. But I cannot understand somebody being killed for profit. How can these animals take a human life for profit. Yes I am talking about Manjunathan, and when I read Gaurav’s post I felt so helpless I felt like screaming! Manjunathan was Killed for profit, and the Killers must be brought to justice, and hopefully they will be, but will it change anything?

My only question is why did Manjunathan die? And die in vain. I am sure his death will not change anything and that he died in vain. He didn’t die a martyr, and yes the guilty might be charged, but business will go on. And everyone one of us will do what everyone else does, we will blame the system. We will blame the politicians. And I remember the first day at a camp at Panchgani. The volunteers at the camp who were to give us the training sang us a song. It said “Hum saab hain Zimmedar”(We all are responsible). Don’t we all blame everyone but ourselves? That day I decided that I will stop blaming others will do whatever little I can, but I am still in the process of learning. I just can’t resist a dig at the corrupt bureaucrats or the system. If one were to start blaming others, the list is endless.

But I say that we are to blame. We are as much to blame for the death of Manjunathan than the corrupt Politicains who took money to allot Pumps. And a number of other unsung heroes. We all know that someone who gives a bribe is as guilty as the one takes it. As long as there are people who are willing to pay the bribe, there will always be corruption? But we blame the system. Sigh! Aisa hi hota hein! But we are the system aren’t we? We bribe everyone and then turn to blame them. Why is the minister corrupt? Getting to become the minister was such a costly affair that he had to recoup his investments. And yet we blame him. Such ministers in order to recoup the money he had shelled out to voters sell oil pumps, and the oil pump owners who had to pay those extra bribe also have to recoup his investments. It wasn’t a fair business at the first place and unless he mixes kerosene, he will not be able to recoup his investments. I am not just blaming the voters; a 100 rupee note to a slum-dweller is a huge amount. But aren’t we also equally to blame if we didn’t speak out against the oil Adulterators. If it were everyone who were standing against the petrol dealers and not just Manju, would they have dared?

Gaurav mention in his blog that Manju Nathan had said, "the petrol dealers knew that no matter what happens, their licenses couldn't be cancelled". But, it is not the only reason, the main culprits are the customers who don’t speak out and keep going back despite knowing that they are being taken for a ride. In every city, there are pumps that adulterate and there are honest pumps, and everyone knows which pumps sell adulterated and which pumps sell unadulterated. But we never speak out.The recently released flop movie by RGV, James had a dialogue I will never forgetAren’t we to blame.We jump the signal, and when we are caught, even before the policemen ask for anything, we start to negotiate,”bhaisaab, der ho raha hein, jaane do na. Please yeh rakh lijiye!!”And we blame the police to be corrupt.

Today also we will not do anything. Just let it pass and maybe this time blame the media as well. By the it is again "WE" who are responsible what they write, and why they have sold out to advertisers. Are we willing to pay a premium for an Ad-free paper?

Can we do something?Can we all do one post in solidarity? A word for Manju.Maybe it will attract the media attention?Let not Manju Die in vain!Wherever you are Manju, rest in peace!

Chivalry is not dead yet. And I believe even the staunchest feminist enjoys, even if it is for a fraction of a second, when a Men open her door or lends a hand. But I believe, the act of chivalry that I just saw today was anything but chivalry.This friend of mine, who is always opening doors for friends, holding the lift open button for others( if the others are predominantly female), was going for lunch with me to the canteen today. I told him that I need to pee so both of us went to the Loo. Like everywhere else, the door to the ladies Loo is exactly next to the door to the gents loo. As we were approahing the Loo, my chivalrious friend suddenly opens the ladies loo and was holding it. He apparently saw a lady comming, and was holding the door for her. he said," I forgot it was the Loo, I am used to holding doors for others". Too used to it I believe. I don't know what the lady must have felt, that such a charming prince with Turban no less was holding the door for her. BTW It was just a few minutes past 12 O' Clock. We were going for an early Lunch.

The other day I was Blog hopping and I saw this blog where some Bot have left a comment. You have wondefull Blog here. I enjoyed reading it. Please visit here for Viagra. In the Comment, the Blogger replied," Thanks for visiting my blog, i will definitely visit yours too".

Saturday, November 19, 2005

Readers digest used to be pretty common in our household. There always was the latest issue, I don't remember who bought them or subscribe to them. And I don't remember if I saw those during my summer and winter breaks, since that was the only time I went home, or if started before I left for boarding school. But I remember that RD was one of my favorite reads. Somehow, somewhere along the way, I had forgotten if there was a magazine called Reader's Digest. Though I see an occasional copy lying here and there or at a magazine stall.

I stumbled upon it recently. I got this mail from ICICIBank that I could get a subscription of readers Digest by redeeming some points. Again, I wouldn't have redeemed it but for the fact that my Icici bank credit card had accumulated a huge reward points. I was in fact surprised, but then I am one of those samples every marketeers dream about. I even won a 7 piece travel-luggage set from Icici Credit cards. Its a different matter that I will never use those, what a fool I was. Anyway, I had accumulated more than 5000 reward points and as i was browsing for reedemable things, I saw that the shoppers stop gift vouchers were the only thing worthwhile. And then I saw the readers digest Offer again, and just clicked it or was it a call I forgot.

Well, I have started getting RD's again, and what I never realised all the while is that readers digest is nothing but a collection of blogs. As I read through the pages, it so surprised me that I felt like I was Blog Hopping, and I also realise that the way RD became so popular was not unlike how Blogs became a phenomenon. It is so full of life, the same reason why I like personal blogs.. To me, Reading good stuff feeds our Intellect, Reading personal blogs and magazines like RD feeds our heart. And we need to feed our heart from time to time.

I guess, one needs to read scriptures to feed the soul, but My soul is not as hungry as my Brain or the heart, just yet.

In the column "As kids see it" One Jenelle Carter writes, " Frustrated with having to eat Mum's latest 'new recipe,' my 11 year brother burst out ," just wait untill you are old and I get to feed you"

Been thinking of shifting to wordpress under my own domain, for a long time now.Have been avoiding it since I am toying with the idea of going Anon as well. On second thoughts, I like this blogs address of anthonysmirror. It is more or less a mirror, how I see myself. I was lucky to get anthony a the domain on rediffblogs but anthony.com sells briefs and shaving kit. How would I have named my blog if I went anon; The Nemesis or one of those video game charaters. Maybe Stuart or Brent. The twins from Gone with the Winds were my fav characters, though they had very little story. But still, Anthonysmirror is good I believe, so I will take that. maybe!

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Have you ever noticed that good looking girls usually hang out together with other good looking girls, but when it come to couples the lousiest looking guy dates a Pretty girl and mostly vice versa too. About the good looking girls hanging out together with good looking girls only, some people might disagree to it stating exceptions, but then exceptions do occur.

It is the couples I am interested in. I have seen this many a times. I have seen enough examples. My sample size would be at least 20 odd couples that I know of and add to it the strangers we see in malls, it’s a huge number to comfortably play with our theory. The best Looking guy end up with such girls as will make you think, “Is he out of his mind or there must be something really wrong with him" and very often we see that some joker is holding hands with an angel, jealous souls would call it “Langur ke haath mein angoor”. By the way, I am not sure if Langurs don’t eat angoors.

Let’s talk about girl friend boy friend thing. For married couple there is always a possibility of an arranged marriage like ON@TCC. But for the pre-marriage types, believe me I have seen it happen to the closest of friends. I won't name him but I had a friend who was so ugly and emaciated, we used him as an example to describe ugliness. He wasn't that type of very nice person who everybody adores nor was he rich or intelligent, yet by the time he was 18 he had changed more girlfriends than I have changed my toothbrush and I change them very often. (bad joke).Taking his example, I had come up with a theory of How Ugly men get to get beautiful Girls.

A man falls in love through his eyes, a woman through her ears. -Woodrow Wyatt

the theory of try try again, if you fail move on the next., You see, uglier man who aren't rich or intelligent have very less to lose in trying so they keep trying and more often than not they are quite shameless, referring to my ugly friend. So a slap or a tongue-whip never breaks their resolve and they keep trying. Their persistency would be, say a 99.9/100. Also they are often good in sweet talking. So while, a good looking guy with an inflated ego stops trying after the first try ( and girls usually rejects in the first try to play hard to get), the uglier cousin keep trying with sweet lies and borrowed Dress and car until the heart of the girl melts, or I suspect in many cases, the girl says yes out of frustration, ‘Let me say yes, at least he might get off my back after sometime" but then once she says yes, naughty cupid will takes over. And love can do wonders to people "Love is Blind. Anyone?"

But for rich Good Looking Guy going around with Not so pretty girl- Isn't a man suppose to fall in love with his eyes.Another friend, but of course he use to hang around with pretty girls, not so pretty girls, and very pretty girl friends, but then He married and he married someone I didn't know and was surprised to know. This guys, who had pretty girls breathing down his neck with mid night phone calls and mid day phone calls and what not, married someone who was quite average. A girl can’t be ugly, and anyway beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but yeah, haven't you noticed in malls handsome good looking guys with not-so-good-looking wives or girlfriends (and very frustratingly Vice Versa where you start thinking, “what the hell is wrong with me?”).

I have no theory for that.Well, One theory is that maybe , the good looking guys who had all the fun in life are so insecure since they hadn't really been saints that they marry not so pretty girls just so they remain faithful. Maybe, I am not sure; I don't have a theory here. I ask you?Another theory is that, since this is a phenomenon I see more often in India, desi guys who have just been unshackled from the chains of traditions with the coming of BPO, IT and MNC banks, and Discs and Pubs no more the hang out of just the Rich Brats, the guys are in such a hurry to grab a girl friend that they propose the first girl who become friendly with him.

But have you noticed this too, or is this only a mirage to me?

Footnote: There is another fact. Not a Myth or an urban legend. Bad girls don’t fall for Good Boys contrary to what I wrote above about opposite attract. That applies only to looks. So guys, if you want to pick up a Bad girl for a no strings attached fling, start acting real Bad. And don't drink that whisky with Coke, try at least a Teachers on the rocks. And no orange juice, if you are dead againts anything alcohol, try RedBull ;-) , you see Bad girls don’t want a momma’s boy however charming you might be.And Don't act like a Husband material, it will only get you Wives. This is a special message to all the good mallu and tam bram boys who wrongly blamed their nomenclature for their state of celibacy, as Sidin wrote in one of his famous posts. Read the post here if you haven't read it, and read again even if you have. It will still make you laugh.

Disclaimer: Please don't take this post too seriously, this is my serious attempt at trying to be humorous. If humour was lost, it was my failure. I, personaly am of the school of thought that believes in, "Marry someone with whom you could have conversations for hours on end, for that is the only thing you will long for in your old age, when the external appeal are long gone. Cheers

Monday, November 14, 2005

Mumbai bloggers on Salem's Hit List. No one dare hits his popularity. The pic is the list of the bloggers who attended the Bloggers meet at Nirmal Lifestyles Mulund, taken by Salem for alleged attempt to topple him from the TOI frontpage by a group of bloggers.

It was good turnout, not so large not too small. Four more bloggers +1 came in later after the Salem's list was taken. After 2 ca'fe each for me, Mandar and Shantanu ( 3 for Amit, Anand and Ravi) , a sizzling blogger's dinner, some interesting discussions and then some more capuchinos, and lots of libertarianism and Manipur (and some pullable cheeky talks) we decided to call it a day, or an evening at 11:15 pm. Thanks Ravi for such a wonderful Evening. I never imagined Bloggers meet could be so interesting. Borrowing a phrase from Patrix, nerve endings firing away, indeed. Looking forward to meeting you Patrix in the next meet.BTW, there was a correspondent from a major daily again(Guess!), no kidding!!

Update: It was a very Interesting meet, and I only wished I had attended more blogger meets. Interesting group of people, at least twenty percent Phds and another 10% going for a Phd ;-) . We thought of doing some MSM bashing but then thought it was too insignificant.

Anand and Amit had a very heated argument on socialism which I caught on Camera, but Salem threatened me not to publish them, since it would have eclipsed his list footage. An incorrigible opportunist that I am I fed them my usual dose of my NE-General-Manipuri-in-Particular Issues. Since I was the guest of honour, they had but to oblige, however unpalatable my topic. Amit didn't fail himself either, offering his thought that absolute freedom might just be the solution(update: solution to the problems of Manipur). I almost got sold to the idea, and asked for more links on it, since I was a little uneasy with the idea of giving absolute freedom to AK totting Commies.;-)

But the sizzlers at the Grill were far from filling, and they don't serve 1.5 plates ;-)

#######################Update: Amit- Ok about Non sequitur and logic; how about this, " Professor, I love you and you love your daughter so is it wrong that I love your daughter".

I didn't mean that Absolute freedom might give rise to AK totting Commies, blame it to my language and a super fast update. I meant I was unconfortable with the idea of giving absolute freedom to the AK totting Commies and what they could do with all that freedom... Even with restricted freedom, they are doing quite a bit. And take it in Humour, I know that absolute freedom will not lead to Anarchy or communism and also that they would happily give up their arms for a little freedom. And that the freedom we are talking about doesn't include "coercion" of any form which very well includes AKs.

Ah yes, I have been thinking we could do with some freedom, like freedom to roam at night, freedom of not having to be stopped every few kilometers, freedom from extortion etc etc. And yes I am giving it a lot of thought. cheers

Saturday, November 12, 2005

In the Californian Gold Rush,(not the movie in the link) , it is often said the only People who made money were not the miners but the ones selling shovels and picks.

Same thing happened in the second Californian rush, only this time it was a rush for something called Dot com. This time again, while most of the people were busy looking for the mother lode, it was the network equipment makers like Cisco that made some good money.

Well, I was going to apply that to Blogging.Wait! I am not implying that there is a gold rush happening in blogosphere. Everybody knows that there is very little money to be made from blogging by blogging. Ok, I had written about some blogs starting to make money a few months back when Aol bought weblogs inc for 25 milllion$. But then, weblogs was a "blog farm" with multiple blogs and multiple contributers. But individual contributers making real money is far and wide, ask IndiaUncut, if you don't believe me. In fact, leave blog aside, even online only publications(OOP) struggle, again ask IndiaUncut, but of course there is the story of semi blog site About.com which was bought by NYTimes for 410 Million dollars.But individual blogs mostly makes money from google adsense and some banner ads and well, it will hardly buy you that yatch. There are a few very famous bloggers who even do endorsements, like I mentioned yesterday here. But all these are far and wide.

And I am not implying that blogging is another gold rush. In fact it is the opposite, everybody only wished if blogging generated some money. But since Blogging as a phenomenon has been spreading like wildfire and still so, the shovel and pick seller applies. People are already made money selling Blogging tools and related softwares. The very Blogger I am using was sold by Pyra labs to google, Yahoo bought Flickr, and Ben and Mena trott of six apart are already a big name and if they were to sell out now, I won't be surprised if they are richer by a Billion dollars, what with 10 million users and bloggers are much more valuable than email users or skype users, since each blogger will come with its little fan following making.

I know I am an awful writer, and if brevity is the soul of the wit, then I am a buffoon because I have a few more lines to finish what I want to convey. Take some rest ;-)

Well I only want free lance web designers to start designing templates.Goes for everyone who wants to make a little money from designing templates.With thousands of new bloggers addin up everyday, template designers will have a field day and at least make more money than most very good bloggers.

Yesterday I was fiddling with my template and did a google on templates.Most template designers have but a few templates on their single page websites usually a blog.Now, when someone uses your template, the template has a link to your site and as more people start using ur template, the google page rank of your site goes up.On your site, the google adsense will show ads mostly relating to blogging like counters and other templates and so it is very likely that there will be many clickthroughs to the google ads since everyone visiting your site would most likely be looking for tools used in blogging other than templates.So every new user of your template increases your chance of a little google ad revenue.Not a million dollar idea but if you are a webdesigner already, you only need to design about 10 good templates and just wait. You don't even have to update like bloggers do. And it will be like earning through a royalty. the template user won't be paying but more user, more clicks to the ads. I have a very bad sense of aesthetics, but you out there, you could just try it. So go try desinging that template, it can't be so hard and hey It won't be such a bad idea.

PS: Forgot to mention about belle de jour, the london call girl who writes her sexual escapades. She made headlines when she was reported offered a 6 figure advance for a book version of her blog. Oldtimers must remember her.Read rest of the post!

Friday, November 11, 2005

I usually post something nice, something personal most Fridays.Anyway, for this weekend, ponder over this.Continuing on my post on God and the coincidences that formed the universe and a crazy little thing called Life, let me relate this to Space and Time.Space has always been fascinating to me. Not much of astronomy but of space.I still remember when I used to gaze at the stars and wonder what might be there about a few billion light years away. Ever wondered about this?There was this friend called Momon who was equally crazy about space.He was a very good mathematician too until his father forced him to study medicine.Last time I went to his place, he looked like a happily married doctor and looked like he have surrendered to faith.“A men does what he has to do until his destiny is revealed to him” – The last Samurai

I am also nowhere near those childhood passion. Or maybe it was just a passing thought.But I believe the answer to the whole mystery that surrounds life lie with Space. I won't even say the Universe, Universe sounds more like a Cosmic stadium than the infinity that it really is.

Yes the Universe is Infinite. Any body want to sue me for that? There is no end, and if there be an end then that end also starts somewhere but will never end. Well, there is no end. Then imagine the possibility that the seemingly simple and Arithmetic sounding word Infinity throws up. If there is no end, then it is possible that you start at one point of the Universe, err, Space and go towards any direction till all the coincidences that made up Life is found at one point. Therein lie all the answers. Unravel Space and Time and we will have all the answers.Somewhere at some infinite distance, you will see that atoms have joined into molecules and into complex amino acids and where there are all the ingredients to form life some infinite time away. And by that same logic, there has to be not one but infinite number of life forms in one form or the other, isolated from each other infinite light years away. Just because we haven't built the Mechanism to space travel in light years per second ( which is Physicsically not even possible), we might never know or maybe we will know after an infinite number of years in some distant universe where we are reborn.

By that Logic, are God time travelers. And since God haven't visited earth for a long time since the days of the Mahabharata, are they in some other universe, waging war with demons.This are just my thoughts, and not some ideas plagiarised from God knows where. For once I didn't Google since Infinity is a number much larger than Google.Just a little gyaan, to ponder... over the weekend mug of lager.##############################################Read the previous post on God @ Gods must be crazyAlso read this over the weekend. Some people found it very amusing.Why do I watch movies Alone?

##############################################Update 1: Google adsense doesn't allow porn ads, but porn operators have found a way around it. Advertise a regular web, say about spammers or tips about blogging or lower your mortgage and then link it to the porn site. More here.#########################################Update 2: Singapore blogger gets endorsement deal, It's stale news but read anyway.Her blog has more than 20,000 visitors a day. And her blog also has a nice post, firing someone for misquoting her. TTG you are not alone.###############################################Update 3: A search for "Against rebuilding of New Orleans" on google threw up my post on earthquake. Since my view was not about helping the earthquake victims and more to do with the causes and prevention, very few people read that but It was a very important message I wanted to convey. Please read and judge for yourself "Bush wants to Rebuild New Orleans but has he even mentioned anything about stopping pollution. His rebuilding efforts will only generate pollutants that might be enough to cause another Katrina.Read more.And, the google search result is here.##############################################

#############################################Latest update:Do a search for IIPM on blogger-search show four of those IIPM-student and alumni blogs (like realiipm,iipmindia which came up suddenly during the Gaurav Sabnis/Rashmi Bansal fracas) in the top, yes top as in literally top, above the normal search results. But there is also iipmexposed which seem like a plant to me though? Is it because of the fact that the bloggers have written the keyword IIPM once too repeatedly, or they are heavily crosslinked (technorati shows about 30+ links for one of the blogs and the word IIPM repeated many times). Why is it they appear like sponsored result separately above the normal results and highlighted, like the ones that appear on yahoo as paid results? I thought if any of the more tech savvy bloggers would do a little probe.Here is the link to the search result. And a snapshot is below.

#######################################

Update: Blogger search results are based on keywords, and top results are shown separately and the above resulting blogs have the keyword repeated many time .

Thursday, November 10, 2005

{PS: Dear visitors, This post has been updated on friday the 11th morning. I didn't write a new post since most of you must have been directed to this post via the link you came in. Please scroll down for the update.}

Thanks to a shy Manipuri studentwho called himself James who pulled a con on the Delhi Bloggers during the DBM. Read it here. Seems like a Journalist acting as a shy Manipuri guy came in to join the Delhi Bloggers Meet, asked a lot of newbie questions and then, did an article on on the Indian Blog scene. TTG ain't so happy about, neither am I and nor are a lot of other bloggers. For one he could have introduced himself as a MSM guy for all that mattered. Bloggers aren't known for hiding facts or being rude Hosts. Or if he didn't, which was the case, he shouldn't have written the article in the tone that I believe he did.

Does it matter to me that he was a Manipuri character? Well, since it wasn't a terrorist act like this at Dcubed, It doesn't really matter. Oh! there has been another debate at Dcubed which goes like;

In my previous post, I wrote of news items about Muslims condemning the Delhi blasts, and asked: why should Muslims have to prove this every damned time? more

Well, I am not sad that he happened to be a Manipuri, for it could have been any other character from Punjab or Andhra or Bihar for that matter. To me, he was just another guy from the MSM.And I believe what he did was what was expected of him by the paper since he is not a free lance who sells his stories, and the story wasn't even exclusive one on the blogger's meet. So, if there be any anger, it is at the paper who apparently warped the story to make a better story out of a simple one. And any residual anger might be that someone pulled a fast one my Blogmates. ;-)And I wonder why he left his phone number if he was doing an under cover story.

Then why am I writing this and why the topic"I will be famous at the Bombay Bloggers Meet". Well, as many readers would know here, though not everyone, I happen to be a Manipuri called Anthony, not a shy Manipuri Student though. And I am planning to attend the BBM to be held this sunday at Nirmal lifestyles, and I had planned to introduce myself as a Manipuri Bombay Blogger and since I don't know if any Mumbai Bloggers know me, I will be a newbie. And like TTG left a comment on ravikiran's blog here,OK, for those who came late,I thought I had do a introductory post here so I might avoid unwanted probings ;-) when I introduced myself. OK, I will post my photo as well so that I might be easily recognised. I have never been an anonymous blogger. And I am not a newbie either, it is just that my blog has been more of a diary and I rarely comment on issues, so my blog circle had been pretty small.

Well, I have been reading blogs for more than 3 years now, I made my first post on Sept 18th 2002 here. Makes me a veteran eh! Well I left the blog dormant as I became busier with my curriculum, then I started using rediffblogs and made my second comming after a year at Anthony.rediffblogs.com and made my first post the on 3rd Oct 2003 here while I was at Pune. I started seriously posting on my blogs when rediff blogs featured me at their Sizzling blogs and I suddenly had a huge readership. Again during my first few months at work at Kolkata, I couldn't update my blog and that when people drifted away from my blog. But I updated from time to time and knew some kolkata Bloggers, but unfortunately I missed two kolkata Bloggers meets. Then I shifted to Mumbai. Its only in the last 4-5 months that I started blogging seriosuly again, writing every night at home, posting them first thing in the morning at office, leaving comments etc etc and then shifted to blogspot. My blog on Manipur, got featured in desipundit here. I started having a few but loyal visitors leaving comments again. And I am no Journalists LOL, and no Tintin either.

For easy identification, here I am. I hope we will have a nice BBM. Further introductions, over a cup of hot Latte. As as Ravikiran said, some Hot Gujju-Female view. Mumbai Bloggers, "Are you reading?"

*** Picture removed. Those needed to see it must have seen it by now.******##################################################Updated: This is going to be one good Bloggers meet. Can I bring my Camera. I promise I won't post names, if anyone want to remain anonymous.

And this post was meant for a little laughs as well, but if you ain't laughing tickle urself or read the Best Humour which won the bloggerrati award for humour category.##################################################Update Again: Dear new visitors, since you are here already, Thanks to Desipundit's link, this is a shameless promotion, but may I request that you take a little more time to visit my Blog on Manipur. yeah, its about the place that has been mention more than once in this post. I bet you don't know much about Manipur even if you do know any. Believe me it is very nicely written, with much care. To visit, click here.##################################################Friday Update: As much as I wanted to write a long post today, I am only suffixing a little update because, ( and this "because" is the update)

1) Everybody would come via a link to this post and might miss my post today.

2) I am not much into mud slinging neither aggresively like TTG with a healthy dose of expletives nor subtly like Blogswatch without expletives but slinging nonetheless and not in real life nor in my blog.

:-) One reason, I try to keep expletives and other word to the minimum because search engines tend to have this having of picking up exxpletives from diff parts of the posts and throws up the blog when some creep search for such sites as " baseball + bat + with+ thorns + in +*ssHoles) in search engines. I have had visitors looking for a dose of cheap cialis on my blog ;-)

3) I am not much into the MSM vs Blogs debate, my blog has been more of a Cat Blog as vulturo says here, but I do stand up as I did during the IIPM, for the most appealing things that the Internet have spawned is the community concept (craigslist.org is my fav site), and nobody challenges a community.

I am not much of a news-eater, nor am a newsmith, the only news I read is business news; M&A's, investments, who's who of Business and I abhor political news, except when it concerns interest rates or tax rates or the market and I really don't care what Natwar is doing. I read only the Zodiac column in a City supplement and of course ogle at the page three babes, and I like Jug Suraiya and Swaminomics and much as I like Stanley Bing. But Politics and Family feuds arrrrg, and so I don't care much what the MSM might be doing or not doing. The only news oriented Blog that I like is K's Presstalk, maybe because his writings sounds very inside. "The Shhh!! I heard this in the grapevines" types. Sad he is not comming to the BBM.

This controversy wouldn't have been such but for the fact that TTG did a hate post, and blogswatch responded with similar profanity sans expletives.##############################################If at all there were to be a MSM Blogger dabate, I shall write later about what Information Dissemination will start moving from a broadcast format, where a few individuals control the broadcast medium that broadcast to a million audience, to a network format where the point of dissemination won't be single and controlled but there will be multiple with self moderation where collectives will come in to correct the wrong.. and like a pagerank, the truth and the truth shall rank the highest. And the day is not farway. News will never be the same again and those don't believe this will do so at their own peril.Read more!

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

I am a pretty confused soul, never sure of what I really think.U see, in taking a decision, not one decision is always an absolute "better" than the rest of the options. So we learn to compromise, and I have even learnt to take decisions systematically through theories and case studies and yes I do pretty well.But each time, it leaves me confused since there is always a merit in the discarded options as well! Maybe I am not a very good decision maker. Marketers Call it Post Purchase Dissonance, I believe.

But, it is not the decisions that I have taken that is the cause of this post today, it is what I think about an issue, my views and stands about that issue, that have confused me of late. How would I have taken a issue regarding a Major Issue, like our politicains must take everyday(well not everyday). Not that our politicians take decisions correctly, if they do take any, but I just realised how difficult it must be for them when they know that each decision will affect the lives of Millions. Or maybe, its not too difficult for them after all. They take decsions on based on which decision will fetch them more votes in the next election, or which decison will result in more cash flows, read kickbacks. But a good politician must find it rather difficult. Huh?

Ok, Back to me! I hated Hijras and Beggars all my life, but after reading a few articles on sonia's blog, well its a series, I am quite confused. I don't know if it was right to hate those People all my life. I guess I Just saw the Human side of them. We just can't calculate the pros and cons to take decision as to How to deal with a problem when it will affect the Livelihoods and lives of many HUMANS.

I am talking here about Bar Girls and the ban of their livelihood. I have read all the articles of Sonia Faleiro on the Bar dancers. Just because the govt had to take a decision, they suddenly decide to Ban an occupation that rendered all of the victims Hungry and Homeless. Bar girls maybe good or bad, some people might think of it as Immoral. I am not writng here to give a Judgement, but that it has robbed the livelihoods of thousands of them made me sit up.Did the Govt take a right decision afterall? If they had been allowing them all the while, why a sudden Brake?We have heard of layoff, and downsizing but they were different. Not downsizing at the right time might have caused more Jobs in the long run when the company falls into bankruptcy. But since the bar dancers had no other skills but some assets, which men used to lust, most took to Prostitution, and a pregnant women having sex for 50 bucks, and some who commited suicide. Most of them are homeless now.

But the Maharastrain Govt didn't have an urgent need to close down dance bars, or did they?Vote banks? Any takers?If they wanted to ban them, could'nt the govt have make it a gradual process than an abrupt one. It was so unfair. One way could have been if the govt issued non-renewable One lifetime Licences to only existing bar girls and let them operate till the tenure of the licence expire, and issue or rennew no further Licences. In 15 years time or lesser, bar dance would have ceased to exist, if that be the intention. There won't be any new recruits and the existing ones might have saved enough for themselves. The govt could still do it now. And the license to to be issued through the Unions that they have formed so that there is no corruption. I would have done it. But I am no politician, and would politics have changed me, the way I am think and the decisions that I should have taken. Can we separate Politics and Governance? I am confused yet again. How i wish I was smarter.

Monday, November 07, 2005

I have long since believed that men Created God and not vice versa. Not that I don’t pray in times of sorrow and even joy. It makes me feels good to believe in something mankind has yet an answer. We seem to unraveled many a mystery. It won’t be long before we unravel this mystery too but as long as it is a mystery, let me pray when I am in doubt to give me a clear mind.

My Question?

How come everyone has a God?I don’t know a single race of Mankind who don’t have some God or the other. What kind of a conspiracy is this? I mean, those days, there were no means of transport or communication between the east and west and yet east have a God and so have the West. How did word spread that everybody had to have a god. Some religions were too enthusiastic enough to have reached the heartlands of Africa or the deserts or Amazonian jungles to preach about their god, but even before their arrival they had their Gods. Read Roots by Alex Haley

And How come almost All Gods look like Men, well Human? See! My first belief, men created God. If god created all the Living things, why did they take the form of only Humans? Does God appear as Animals to the Animals. Or is that God liked His/Her creation so much so that he reinvented himself (him could be her as well). Or is it true that God incarnated as Men just to have Sex. Because something so beautiful as Sex could only be had as humans, only? (BTW Animals only procreate)

I just read in Uma's Indianwriting an article posted by DNA here, on combating Terrorism Differently. I couldn't agree more. Coming from a Place rife with terrorism and having lived the life of a common men where the the common Men is torn between the Barrel of Two guns(Govt Forces and Terrorist forces), Combating Terrosrism Has been a subject close to my heartTerrorism must be fought not by politicians or the army, but by the people who have no interest or incentives other than a chance to live in Peace. Like mao Tse Tung said," The revolutionaries are the fish and the people is Water". Fish cannot survive without water.

I liked the movie Gandhi immensely. He was truely a legend, our Bapu. I still rememebr that one line he said countering terrorism of that time. He was very much againts Ahimsa and the so called revolutionaries. Revolutionaries are right at their own sense, they are courageous and I salute them, But what Gandhijee said(in the movie) still rings in my ear. "Terrorism have never produced the kind of leaders on whom we could leave the future of a nation" , How true. Like I said I couldn't agree more. I could carry on and on about terrorism, but to what end?

Sunday, November 06, 2005

Writing on my wireless laptop in a wi-free zone.Leave aside wi-fi, there is not even broadband yet in my house.Looks like some PROBLEMS with the cable guys, as the security says.Hmm, but its a pretty decent society, I wonder why it still takes so long.Till then its thye lousy Reliance dialup which throws up an extra bill of a 1000 bucks for a speed of 15kbps, average.Google opens pretty well, but the links don't. We can't yet drive a Ferrari on Indian roads eh.

A post I read about an article by The Guardian set me thinking, of WTO and patents and process patents, of AIDS vaccines and Viagra and Cialis, of Bill and Melinda gates foundation of third world countries and bulk drugs and generics and off patent drugs and APIs.I only slightly remember the terms, the words, and have no clue about the numbers. And I am too lazy to google on this speed. I am also thinking about Differential pricing and third world countries and if moving from a process patent to a product patent regime will be a boon or a ban.In my class of 2004 and WTO and patent regime was a hot topic. Drop of a hat and somebody or the other would talk about it. Another was MFN and MFA and of textile quota, BPO of course was another favorite. Thank god I have a poor memory, otherwise My mind would have been caught up in the tangles of all the numbers, of percentages and year of expiry of a regime or agreement. And, of Protectionism and Nationalism. Ah, sometimes, I wished I was an economist, but even then I would have turned a Freakonomist.

This particular article mentions about from The Gaurdian says that drug companies have stopped developing drugs, except drugs like Viagra( quite true we haven't had a super drug since Viagra and for a long time before that) because they are afraid generic companies would Break their patents.

Well, I was under the impression that generic companies only produces off patent drugs, and I believe India has also stopped producing Patented Drugs via the process patent route. Didn't we sign in the WTO that we will move into Product patents from 2005. Cipla or Sun can't make copies of drugs anymore. I am a little confused now, but if so, It might do some good in the long run but it sure will hurt a lot of people by the way. But again its like the Piracy debate and differential pricing. But again, The Guardian won't write something wrong. My idea was about affordability of certain things in poorer countries.Piracy can't be stopped, there is too much demand that supplies in one form or the other will always crop up. Well, while somebody earns 40K INR a month in India, his equivalent in the US might earn at least 6 K Dollars which is 2,50,000 INR. And wait, what does someone earning 40000 INR a month needs, a Car, a decent 1BHk if he is single, and consumer durables and mostly the same stuff that the person in US will need. And, but for the house, most other things are as cheap or cheaper in the USA, thanks to China and Walmart. Yet they earn at least 6 times hmmm. Even petrol is cheaper. I could never accept this, but this is the fallacy of Economy. Now, these people, with the extra money they saved from petrol and Walmart, buy some expensive medicine (healthcare is borne by the govt and Insurance anyway) and expensive books.But since we have spent all our money on Petrol, rent, EMIs and credit card bill, we have very little money left for product patented medicines and Books and Music and Movies, and so when there are vendors who sell them cheap or share for free, We can’t help ourselves. Afterall we pay the same price for Pizza and more for an Ipod than the Americans. How can we pay 99 cents to Itunes when we paid more for an Ipod though we earn 1/5th an American. Please give us cheaper fuel Mr Minister! And better roads so that we may not have to spend 100% more than we should be burning of the expensive petrol. Bhaar mein jaaye copyright. If they really want to stop piracy, they should learn a thing or two about differential pricing. It makes better business sense to sell a million books at 95 rupee a pop than sell 5000 copies at 975 bucks a pop. yeah, Yeah! I know about royalty. Why can't the royalty be a percentage of sales or profits instead of per copies sold. We don’t need no book jacket or the fancy print. Now that product patent regime is started, I don’t know if we will be able to afford some medicines. I’d better increase my health insurance cover. Or maybe drug discovery won’t be so expensive in India afterall. Who knows DrReddy’s might just a Scorpio. Scorpio cost just $120 Million to M&M to design. And for life saving drugs that are required in doses of millions in the third world countries, the Roches and Pfizers of the world could stop being greedy for once. After all a 20 year exclusive marketing right to a new drug is not for nothing.

I promised myself I won’t watch a movie today, but then garam masala seem to be a nice comedy. Rediff gave a nice review . Maybe I will try my luck.

“A men does what he has to do until his destiny is revealed to him” – The last Samurai

"The perfect blossom is a rare thing. You could spend your life looking for one, and it would not be a wasted life."

Saturday Just got over.. Watch another movie yet again during the day.. Tomorrow, er..today.. its already sunday EARLY morning 1 AM, I shall not watch. Will finish off Freakonomics. Borrowed it from the company library and had started it, finished the Sumo wrestlers chapter and then movies took over. Well, I suddenly got into this DVD and VCD collection spree and had bought a load of them. If only they are Infosys stocks..wishful thing!!

I have always been into watching movies alone, much to the surprise of friends who would give me that “Is he some Wacko? Is he a kinda weirdo?” Look. Nevertheless, I have watched many a movies alone, but peer pressure and that pitiful look from other movie goers forced me to let some people accompany me. Problem with me is I TALK a lot ? And contrary to my childhood when my mom reprimanded me for talking too much, today talking well has become an important asset. I heard people today attend grooming classes to learn to be outgoing. Do they teach them how to crack a joke as well? They sure must then teach them how to laugh at THEIR jokes as well?Oh, see, how I talk. I seem to my favorite topic. Forgot what I was going to write, so I started watching movies with friends and friend girls( Borrowing your word K ) and I can’t stop talking if there is someone beside me, more so if she is a she. After all we are watching the movie together so we might catch up on some whispers. Well, as I am watching reruns of my favorite movies alone these last few days, I realize what I had missed. Watched The Last Samurai. today. I don’t want to write about the movie, my blog is turning out to be a movie review site. But Men, those Samurais are worth a mention, and praise.To those men, who died in The Last Samurai. , the movie I salute you for we won’t ever get to know what honour, as you meant mean. There are much to be learnt from the Samurais, and there are much to be learnt from the Japanese. One thing that amazed Capt. Algren, amazed me as well. "From the moment they are awake, they devote themselves to the perfection of whatever they pursue." With a discipline and devotion hard to fathom less alone copy.. No wonder how Japan became what Japan is today. They were very late starters, but look at them today. I hope we can learn from them. But of course, the south Koreans are today giving them a run for their money, but then they learnt from the Japanese. They learnt all the good things from the Japanese and then some more. But Devotion and Discipline, a virtue of the orientals made it all happen.

PS: Added later..

Holy cow, I had just copied and posted this post with lots of links. And blogger just went into maintenance mode and I have lost all my that I typed there, so here I go again. Will repost in the morning.

Friday, November 04, 2005

Yesterday evening, I was tired and wanted to watch a movie and watch I did, and then slept. I didn't write my blog, so here I am writing in the blogger editor for a change. I use notepad on my laptop, and my dial up connection is so pathetic, I only use it to Chat on messenger, I don't bother to open any website. But I wanted to write a Friday post anyway, so inspired by Casablanca of writing on the wall . Not this Casablanca, that I wrote here.

It had been one festive week I say, we even had one of the most important festivals called Ningol Chakouba in Manipur Yesterday. I was far away in Mumbai though. Home must be filled with festive mood, I won't think about all the delicacies they must be preparing back home. The week has ended with Eid. Eid Mubarak deal all. And thank god, I won't have those terrible bombs blasting beside my window. All those rockets( crackers) seem to exploding right near my 4th floor bedroom window. I felt like picking up all the kids and adults alike who were having fun at the xpense of my ear drums and my piece of mind and lock them inside a tin drum. It would be such pleasure playing dholak with the tin drum.

Oh, the movie I watched Yesterday, The Sound of Music. It was so nice and fresh. I have seen the VCD staring at me for as long I remember at the VCD rack at Music world and Planet M and any other Music store. Frankly that was how I came to know of Sound of Music, and since it was so prominently displayed, I presumed it might have been a famous movie of its time though I never botheerd to check out it review. But each time I browse the VCD rack, it stared at me, a girl dancing and singing againts a a very beautiful backdrop. Well A few days back I gave in to the temptation, well point of sale does work, and had bought it. Watched it only yesterday and it was a pleasure sitting through or rather lying though the length of the movie. Of course, the loud crackers were a nuisnace, but it didn't distract me the least, I watched at FULL volume. I guess, it was what they call a musical, other than Hindi Movies( Hindi movies are musicals and then some more, well much more), I haven't seen a musical per se and was surprised that it could so beautiful and like I keep saying Fresh. I could feel a certain freshness watching the movie.One more secret about the movie, I will reveal, it had two ending. The first ending was very nice but the second ending beat it. I think that was what made the movie even more memorable.Yes, a Movie with two endings.

Oh! Just remember my favorite thought"The rose is a great deal more than a blushing apology for its thorns"-tagore

Thursday, November 03, 2005

When Jeff bezos took the plunge to start Amazon.com and wrote history in internet, he took the crucial decision with the help of what he called Regret minimization framework

"In his typically analytic way, Bezos cast his decision in what he calls the "regret-minimization framework." He imagined that he was 80 years old and looking back at his life. And suddenly everything became clear to him. When he was 80, he'd never regret having missed out on a six-figure Christmas bonus; he wouldn't even regret having tried to build an online business and failed. "In fact, I'd have been proud of that, proud of myself for having taken that risk and tried to participate in that thing called the Internet that I thought was going to be such a big deal. It was like the wild, wild West, a new frontier. And I knew that if I didn't try this, I would regret it. And that would be inescapable." Read more...

I have also come to like this theory very much. Imagining myself 50 years from now and looking back at what I have done and doing only those things that would reduce my instances of regrets.

But also, I was trying to look back at what I have done till today. And nothing could have hardened my faith in the old Indian saying "jo hota hein acche ke liye hi hota hein"( Whatever happens happen for the good). Oh yes, being the positive person that I am, I have always believed it and it is true for most people.

So looking back at the misses I had(leave the hits for now), I was just wondering where I could have done better? Well, I could have done many things better, and there is no doubt about that. I should have tried a little harder during all the exams, slept a little lesser, shouldn't have mixed with the wrong people, listened to father more... blah blah blah. But then, I realised that no one event should be or could be taken in isolation. Whatever happen till today, have been a chain of events, and doing or not doing some events would have swayed my course in a different way.But, for all the probable regrets, there have been many beautiful events that were the direct result of the events that caused the regrets. For every event that ever caused me a post event dissonance, the same event have resulted in many adventures that have made my life much more meaningfull. And I could never trade those experiences for a better life, or a Life with lesser regrets. Like my old friend, who is now an Army Officer, who kept saying to the our lesser adventurous classmates,"You won't have any stories to tell your Grandchild".

All I could say is, "So far So Good"

Yeah! Thats Me, about.... maybe 20 years back. I found the Picture, scanned and edited a long ago, hidden in an old mail in my inbox. It was me, my bro and my mom. I guess I as playing around with the photoshop with the scanned picture. the pic used to be pretty clear too, maybe I had converted it to Jpeg from BMP and vice versa more than once :-). Couldn't find the rest of the pictures. My mom looked very sweet in that pic. I don't have any datas from my old PC either. It had long been upgraded sans the datas. Data Overload. I don't have to worry about storage anymore today though.